U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,965,143; 4,087,621; 4,060,691 and 4,322,543 extensively disclose 16 alkyl, 16 hydroxy prostaglandins. Compounds of the present invention structurally differ from the prior art compounds by substitution at the 2 position. For example, the prior art discloses ##STR1## and the most closely related compound of the claimed invention is ##STR2## differing only by the methyl group at the 2 position. This slight change in structure dramatically alters the biological properties of the molecule.
Various 2-substituted prostaglandins are described in Recl. Trav. Chim. Pays-Bas 94(12), 247-256 (1975) (fluoro, bromo, phenyl); U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,966 (fluoro, methyl); J. Lipid Research 17(4), 424-30 (1976) (methyl).